


Nailed It

by m_ilk



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Bad Jokes, Culture Shock, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fantasy, Female Reader, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Isekai, Loneliness, Mild Sexual Content, Mutual Pining, Reader-Insert, Romance, Slow Burn, Swearing, Worldbuilding, Zora Culture, but like A Lot of Comfort, dorks to lovers, fantasy wound care, implied link/mipha - Freeform, let sidon say fuck 2020, modern reader, oh right, reader knows math, these tags are all over the place and i apologize for that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:42:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_ilk/pseuds/m_ilk
Summary: You find an injured... merman? Sharkman? And do your best to care for his wounds until he can do it on his own. You had no idea being a decent person would lead to befriending a Zora prince, but befriend him you did.Interconnected drabbles of varying length featuring awful jokes, underwater shenanigans, and your eventual wooing of the sweetest shark you'll ever meet.
Relationships: Bazz (Legend of Zelda) & Reader, Link & Prince Sidon, Link (Legend of Zelda) & Reader, Marot (Legend of Zelda) & Reader, Prince Sidon/Reader, Zelda (Legend of Zelda) & Reader
Comments: 39
Kudos: 215





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea a while ago and I finally dusted it off and polished it up to share it with y'all. Updates will probably be pretty sporadic and chapter lengths are gonna vary depending on how much brain juice I have available when I write them.
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: Blood and descriptions of injuries.

You sighed, eyes on the vast night sky overhead. The moon hung low, peeking shyly over shimmering cliffs, its pale glow slowly lighting up the winding river below. Dancing fireflies bobbed in the surrounding air. Glass clinked as you shifted to avoid one bumping into your cheek, your empty bottle toppling over to roll to an unknown spot in the grassy field. You’d have to remember to pick it up before you left. Bottles were scarce around those parts. 

The air smelled like rain. Clouds rolled in, quietly obscuring the blanket of stars overhead and the rising moon. Your ears picked up faint rumbling. It made you groan, but you stood and started looking for your bottle. You wouldn’t risk getting caught out in a storm, no matter how much you loved the rain. 

Your foot found the wayward bottle before your eyes did. It went flying, rolled down a slope in the field, and disappeared from your view. With a curse, you took off after it. “Please don’t fall into the water, please don’t fall-” A distant splash turned your stomach to lead. You skidded to a stop by the riverbank and looked around. It was difficult to see, but eventually you found your bottle wedged between a rock and a few reeds, a few feet away from the stream where you usually filled it up. 

“Thank god,” you snatched it and looked it over. No cracks that you could see. Then again, you couldn’t see much with the clouds blocking the moon. 

As if to acknowledge your plight, a breeze swept through the clearing. Above you, the clouds moved, revealing a full moon. The stream glimmered like liquid silver in the moonlight. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, you were more concerned about something you hadn’t seen in the dark: the hulking figure half submerged inside of it.. 

“Is that a  _ shark?! _ ” You hissed in surprise and took a panicked step back. Why was there a shark in the river? Sharks were saltwater animals, weren’t they? So what was…

Huh.

Did sharks usually have legs? 

You inched closer. Yup, those were legs. Shorter than you would have thought, given the size of the torso they were attached to, but they were there alright. When you got a little closer, you discovered a pair of ornate silver cuffs on their ankles. 

The more you looked at them, the more you realized they weren’t a shark at all. Though their teeth were shark-like, as was the crest atop their head. It reminded you of a hammerhead shark. Except sharks didn’t have claws, legs, and jewelry, as far as you knew.

Were they… a mermaid? Merperson? 

A shark-person?

(A person-shark??) 

Regardless of what they were, that part of the stream wasn’t the safest place to take a nap. You’d dispatched of the lizalfo that had crept into the area, but you had no way of knowing when more would show up. 

You cleared your throat, “S’cuse me.” They didn’t seem to hear you. You tentatively nudged the arm they weren’t laying on with your foot, mindful of the fin there. It was barely a tap really, but the shark-person tipped over and landed on their back with a pained moan. That was about the time you noticed the state their neck and ankle were in. 

“What  _ happened _ to you?” You dropped to your knees beside them. The fangs and claws that could have ripped you to shreds were completely still. You forgot all about them as you tilted their head to get a better look. Something dark oozed out of the side of their neck. It soaked the gravel beneath your knees, stained your sleeves and your hands. 

_ That’s way too much blood _ . You fished the luminous stone out of your pocket and held it up with your non-dominant hand. What you saw made you let out a low hiss through your teeth. 

A gash split the skin of their neck from the corner of their jaw to their collar. The choker they wore was cut diagonally in the same direction... Something very sharp had been used for the metal to break so cleanly. You grimaced and hoped whatever had done it wasn’t close by as you worked the choker off of them. Finally unlatching it (clasps, your greatest enemies) you tossed it aside.

What next…

Neck or ankle?

They were bleeding a lot. You’d take care of their neck first.

You needed to see just how messed up it was. Grimacing, you dunked your bottle into the stream. No point in worrying about pouring water from it on them, since they’d been in there already for who knew how long. You tipped the bottle over their wound slowly. It washed some blood away, but only for a moment. More oozed out as soon as you ran out. You repeated the process until you got a sense of what you were dealing with. At least it wasn’t squirting out. Then you’d have a much bigger problem. The one you had was big enough already; you had to stop the bleeding. 

With the storm on the way, there wasn’t anyone out and about. Not like the area was well-traversed, either. The paths travelers used were far removed from there. On one hand, it meant you’d be hard-pressed to ask for help. On the other, it meant you could take your shirt off without worrying about passersby seeing you in your bra. 

The mid spring chill had you shivering. “This is going to suck,” you warned them, even though they probably couldn’t hear much, if anything. You ripped one sleeve off and pressed the rest of the shirt to their bleeding wound. They didn’t stir, but their chest hitched when you touched the gash. They weren’t gone yet. You could still help. 

You maintained pressure on the wound with one hand and felt around their neck. They were bleeding and fairly humanoid. They had a pulse, right? A thump, thump, th-thump greeted your searching fingers under a soft spot beneath the corner of their jaw. You kept track of the beats while you folded the unstained part of your shirt over the soaked part. Rapid pulse, shallow breaths. You had to get them back to your house. You didn’t have any elixirs, but there were other things you could use to stabilize them and treat their wounds. 

_ How to go about this…  _ You bit your lip and looked around while you considered your options. You could run to your house to get the elixirs, then run back, but you risked something happening to them while you left. Whether it was a monster or ill-intentioned person, or even their own wound. Leaving them defenseless like that rubbed you the wrong way, but the alternative was dragging them up to your cottage, and there was no telling how long that would take…

Then you saw it. A wagon, half hidden by the brush on the other side of the stream. It was broken down to be sure, but it had two good wheels and you didn’t need the tattered top, anyway. Whatever deities were watching over you really outdid themselves with that one.

Before retrieving the wagon, you looped one sleeve of your blood-soaked shirt under the merperson’s arm, on the opposite side of where the gash was, then maneuvered it around the back of their neck (a feat, considering their head… tail... thing) to tie it with the hem. It would keep pressure on their wound without strangling them. You hoped. 

You glanced at their ankle. It would have to be immobilized. You could use the rods sticking out from the wagon to make a quick splint. 

Not wasting any time, you kicked off your shoes and bunched up your trousers around your knees to cross the stream. The water was freezing, but you clenched your jaw and waded across with single-minded focus. You all but yanked the old wagon out of the earth when you reached it. The wood creaked and groaned, splinters dug into your palms and the cloud of dirt that rose made you sneeze, yet still you pulled until it was free. And if you fell on your ass a few times, well, there wasn’t anyone around to see it. 

Ignoring your stinging palms, you steered the wagon towards the stream. The running water made the task harder than it needed to be, and you stepped in something weird and slimy while you crossed, but you got through it with only the hems of your pants slightly waterlogged. 

You parked the wagon behind the Zora and proceeded to divest it of the old remains of tarp and rods that had once formed its roof. The tarp itself proved to be of little use, but you repurposed the ropes binding it to the wooden rods. When you finished setting the shark person’s ankle, you snapped the wooden rods over your knee and bound them with the rope on either side of their shin. Not your best splint, admittedly, but it’d hold until you were home. 

Your back cracking in several places, you rolled to your feet and wondered how to go about the next step: getting them on without aggravating their wound. They were pretty big. Even laying down, you could tell they were taller than you by a fair amount. Moving them would be a challenge, but you didn’t have the luxury of time. Already, you could hear a thunderclap above you. 

Dropping to squat behind their head, you snaked your hands under their arms and lifted with your legs. The effort made you groan. At least you got them off the ground. You looked over your shoulder at the cart. Your back would kill you for this later.

A step. Then another. Panting, you dragged their body backwards until your heel met old wood. You weren’t moving fast enough, though the thought of them falling is enough to prevent you from being too hasty. You stepped fully onto the wood. A little more… 

Their eyes snapped open. 

“Woah buddy, it’s okay! You’re okay!” You dodged a swipe of their hand. It missed your face by a hair’s breadth, but caught your forearm on the way down. You nearly dropped them as pain lanced up your arm. “Fucking sh-  _ ow!”  _ You swore through clenched teeth, but held tight. Three bleeding lines ran down the length of your inner forearm, which stung like a  _ bitch _ while you hoisted them up higher by their underarms. Gods, they were heavy _. _

The pain and their weight distracted you from the fact they’d regained consciousness. At least, until their rumbling voice froze you in your tracks. “Where…?” They groaned in pain, and you felt a stab of pity for them. 

“Uh…” You squinted in thought as you oriented yourself. In the distance, past the hills on the other side of the river, a faint orange glow cut through the gloom. “A few kilometres North of She Rata Shrine- stay with me, buddy.” You tried not to jostle them too much as you walked backwards onto the wagon-turned-cart. 

Their response came as a rasped, “... trying.” And they were. They fought to keep their eyes open while you continued to haul them onto the cart. 

You got them far back enough that their feet only  _ slightly _ hung from the edge. Good enough. Backache threatened to do you in while you lowered them- you did your best to ignore it and leapt over the side of the cart to get your shoes. You just jammed your feet into them, not bothering to wear them properly. 

“What’s your name? Don’t fall asleep on me now,” You heaved down and began pushing the cart toward your house. 

When they didn’t answer after the first few seconds, panic rose in your gut.  _ Shit, shit- _

“Sidon. My name… is Sidon.” 

“Sidon, huh?” You repeated their name, committing it to memory. “That’s a nice name. Where are you from?” Focusing on steering the cart out of the way of random boulders while keeping an eye out for monsters while  _ also _ maintaining a conversation going with someone on the brink of unconsciousness was probably the most ambitious thing you’d ever done. You were managing, barely. 

It took a considerable effort for them to reply, you heard it in their strained voice, “...the Domain.”

You had no clue where  _ that  _ was, but you had to keep this conversation going, so… “Yeah? Is it nice there?”

There was a faint glow to the markings around their face. You thought you were seeing things when their eyes found yours. They shone like muted luminous stones, the kind that hadn’t gotten a lot of sunlight the day before and didn’t give off as much light the following night. “It is… beautiful.” 

“I’d love to see it someday. Don’t know how to get there though, so you’ll have to show me when you get better, yeah?” Speeding up, you rounded the short hill south of your house. Even in the dark, you spotted the thin glint of the metal wires you’d set up. Sidon’s head lolled as you swerved around a bear trap. “Never met someone like you before. You a mermaid, Sidon?”

“Not a m-maid.”

“Oh, sorry, mer...man?” 

Sidon hesitated, pained face twitching into a semblance of a smile. “You could say so… I’m a Zora, er, male.” 

His physique  _ was _ what you considered to be on the masculine side, but you hadn’t wanted to assume. “A Zora. Okay...” 

_ Drip. _

_ Drip drop.  _

A droplet of rain hit your nose. The sky opened up above the two of you, quickly growing from a light sprinkle into a full shower. You cursed yourself for setting so many traps while you unlatched a tripwire, squinting against the rain. You pushed the cart down the dilapidated cobblestone path (you had to get on with fixing that at some point, poor Sidon’s ankle was going to feel that later) to your house, specifically the structure beside it. You could slide the door open just wide enough for the cart to fit through, but the whole thing wouldn’t fit. Just as well. You didn’t need to get the cart inside, just the guy on it. 

He barely fit in the spring, which you’d thought was spacious. Until now. Spacious to you, maybe, but it was little more than an oversized tub for your “patient”. You hoped it wasn’t too stifling for him as you maneuvered him out of the cart to slide him (gently!) into the water. 

The relief in his face was instant- the tension melted from him like butter over a baked apple as soon as he settled in the water. Though usually the deepest part of the spring came up to your chin, the water merely lapped at his chest as you helped him lean back against the edge. There was no way of knowing if the temperature was too hot for him. Some tension eased out of his expression, so you figured it was alright. 

You couldn’t imagine how much pain he had to be in; you wished you had potions on hand. The healing process would have taken seconds if you had, say, a hearty elixir. “We’re gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way.” You muttered, though Sidon was still very much unconscious. 

Once you were sure he was settled, you ran out into the rain to the house to fetch your medicine kit. You nearly tripped over a basket of wild fruits you’d forgotten to put away in your haste.  _ Those can wait.  _ A chest by your bed had a few poultices that could be useful. You snatched them up and ran back to the bathhouse. You didn’t even shut the door behind you. 

Eyeing the makeshift bandage you’d plastered on the side of his neck, you took a seat beside him. Luminous stone gripped between your teeth, peeled the cloth off and tossed it aside. Fresh blood trickled out to once more stain your hands as you cleaned the wound. Some of his scales had gotten embedded into the exposed tissue. With a grimace, you reached for your tweezers. 

You worked for a long time. The only sounds were of the rain outside, and the occasional ripple of springwater every time Sidon twitched. He didn’t wake while you stitched him up, which was for the best. You caught his features, different from yours as they were, twisting in pain. Beyond that, he didn’t stir. 

“One, two, three, four…” After snipping the last suture, you counted up to 28 stitches. Satisfied with your work, you snagged a poultice you’d brought and spread it over the gash, careful not to irritate it further. It would protect him from infection while he healed. Though it was no potion, you knew from experience it’d make the healing process a little speedier. The stitches would only take a few days before you needed to take them out, if things went well. 

Dressing the wound for a second time was as complicated as it had been on your first attempt. Sidon had a hammerhead-like crest and a long tail extending from the back of his head that made going around it to reach the gauze a major chore. By the end of it you were sore, your back ached, and the small scales at his temples had only aggravated the scratches he’d gouged into your arm. Speaking of which…

As soon as you secured the gauze, you tended to the marks his claws left on you. Unlike him, you didn’t need sutures. However, you needed to clean them and some of that antibacterial ointment. 

Outside, lightning flashed. It illuminated the bathhouse bright blue for a second, and the following darkness had you straining to adjust again. It’d probably rain the entire night. You pocketed your luminous stone, then went back to your house to pull together something for a cot and get some dry clothes. While you were there, you took stock of how much gauze you had left. A fair amount, but you’d rather have an excess than go without. You’d go out tomorrow to gather materials to make more if Sidon’s condition allowed and the weather cleared. 

With everything gathered into an old crate, you grabbed the wooden shield by your now-bare bed and held it over your head as you ventured back to the bathhouse. You propped the shield by the door and, with a weighing glance towards the unconscious Zora, quickly changed into dry clothes. That done, you set up your cot near the bath (though not too close, there was no telling if you’d roll around in your sleep and end up in the spring). You fell asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow. 

A low groan woke you hours later. You blinked tired eyes open and slowly sat up. It took you a moment to remember where you were. Morning wasn’t far, judging from the grey light filtering in through the skylight. Though it was barely enough to see by, you could make out the shape in the spring thanks to a few luminous stones you’d placed in it. 

The shape was Sidon, the Zora you found, sleeping not-so-soundly in the water. Your sleepy brain was trying to process that while you got your bearings. It was slow-going. You couldn’t have slept more than a few hours, at most, so you tried not to be too hard on yourself when it took a few attempts before you finally got to your feet. 

It was a sight out of a fairytale; you thought. Sidon’s shoulders remained out of the water, which left you with a unimpeded view of the glowing yellow-tipped fins on his shoulders. The glow had been far more subdued while you were patching it up, you’d thought it a trick of the light. Was this a sign he was feeling better? 

You walked barefoot over to Sidon’s side and knelt to examine his wound. The gauze was easy to peel off, a good sign, and came away with only a few tiny red dots. The wound didn’t bleed, but it still needed to be cleaned periodically. You removed the bandage completely and pulled your kit over to start re-dressing. 

A low, rumbling growl sent a shiver down your spine, but you kept applying poultice to the area around the sutures. Then your world flipped and your back slammed against the stone rim. Air left your lungs in a wheeze. You lost the ability to breathe altogether when you looked up. 

Pupils narrowed into slits bore into you. You were stared down by eyes like molten lava. You realized it was hard to breathe thanks to the huge hand pressing down on your chest, keeping you pinned to the ground. 

You batted at his wrist with one hand and held the other up in what you hoped he considered an appeasing gesture. “I’m just cleaning up your wound, I swear.” The way your voice wavered undermined your attempt at sounding calm. The Zora had his fangs bared, and his face was very, very close to yours. He could bite your nose off, if he wanted to, and you wouldn’t be able to move away in time. 

Your shallow breaths brought back the smell of the ocean, and you thought for a second that fear has made you delirious. You were nowhere near the sea. The lack of oxygen must have been making you see things too, or was the fear you saw in his eyes just a mirror of your own? Your hand dared to pat the one on your chest as you murmured, “It’s okay, you’re safe.” 

Like you said the magic words, he closed his eyes and removed his hand. Then he collapsed.

On top of you. 

You wheezed again, this time in pain as his weight crashed down on you. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd that's the first chapter! Let me know what you think, see you on the next one :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon wakes up... again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thank you all so much for the kudos, comments and subscriptions!! The support has been incredible! ;A; you guys are amazing 
> 
> This chapter was sitting unfinished in my drafts for a long time, I'm glad it's finally out! Happy reading y'all.

Fear overcame him upon waking. The smell of his own blood clogged his senses. He’d been certain he would never again open his eyes; could recall, vaguely, how his thoughts before he succumbed to unconsciousness were of his people, his father. They’d wonder what became of him, and he’d have left them without a future leader. Who would take his place? The Zora’s collective hopes rested on his shoulders, and he was going to die, far from them. 

Alone. 

A burst of adrenaline had been what allowed him to face the threat to his person, but… 

You touched his hand with your small one, told him he was safe, and he remembered. Not your face, certainly not your name, but your voice. Sidon recognized it. How could he not? It was the last thing he’d heard before… 

Well, he was glad he remembered, regardless. He wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself for hurting the person who’d gone through the trouble of helping him. As it was, he couldn’t do more than hope his weight wasn’t crushing you as he tried to gather the strength to move. 

That little stunt cost Sidon more than he cared to admit. Pain shot up and down his neck. Not to mention the lower half of his leg felt like it was burning to the marrow of his bones. He couldn’t bring himself to roll off your smaller body. No really, he couldn’t so much as breathe without tremors raking his form. Shame, helplessness, exhaustion, and another number of emotions he hadn’t experienced in a long time kept him rooted to where he laid. 

“Sorry.” He rasped. Even speaking was an ordeal. The length of his throat throbbed, and the urge to claw at the itch grew the longer he remained conscious. 

Your hand patted his bicep gently, but he noticed your voice was strained when you responded, “S’okay.” 

It took some careful maneuvering for you to slide yourself out. His aching upper body settled with an “oomph” on the stone edge. 

“I’m going to move you to rest on your back, that alright?” You waited for him to make a noise of assent, which he made after realizing nodding was too much for him. Once he did, you rolled up your pants and waded into the pool to help him back inside, movements cautious and hands mindful, hesitant even, as they reached for him. 

With the perceived threat no longer there, Sidon slipped back into unconsciousness. Your concerned calls for him followed him all the way into his troubled dreams. He had no way of knowing how much time passed between then and the next time he opened his eyes; his surroundings were dim still, though the lighting wasn’t an issue for his eyesight. 

He was in a secluded resting pool, but not the kind he was used to. It wasn’t deep enough for him to submerge completely, though he supposed in this case that was more of a blessing given the location of his injury. The walls and floor of the spring were all lined with unpolished cut stone, like the kind on some of the older walkways at the far edges of the Dominion. A few luminous stones encrusted along the sides and bottom kept the water and the otherwise dark water illuminated. While an odd design choice to him, perhaps it was so because of the supposed poor eyesight Hylians had. 

The walls surrounding the pool were made with a variety of materials. The one in front of him was made entirely of stone bricks, but the walls adjacent had wooden support beams and mostly wooden planks, save for a foundation of stone. It was a curious mix of old and new fixtures, with the brick wall being the most worn. He’d hazard a guess and say the roof was new as well; it possessed the same sheen of polish the wooden walls did, with no signs of peeling or age on it. 

Sidon felt it safe to conclude the room had undergone serious renovations, recently too. Such was the trouble of using wood, he supposed. While plentiful, it was prone to rot when exposed to water. It simply wasn’t a viable medium in Zora construction. He’d seen Hylian villages use it beautifully, though those days were far behind him, the memory of them almost hazy as he tried to recall it. 

Speaking of Hylians…

He spotted you leaning against the wall on his left, directly beneath the skylight, bent to whatever you were working on. As you straightened, he caught the glint of the knife you set aside to examine the object in your hands. A tree branch with flat notches along its length. How fitting. 

Sensing eyes on you, you glanced his way. It saved him the effort of calling out to you, which his throat couldn’t handle, regardless. You set your equipment aside to stand and dusted off your curiously cropped trousers. You began to walk towards him, but paused mid-step.

Sidon couldn’t blame you for thinking twice about approaching again- he had given you quite a scare when you were only trying to help. Still, you padded over to the edge of the pool and sat cross-legged there with only a second look at his claws. 

Others might have thought it foolish. Not Sidon, though. It was a testament to your bravery, your willingness to help him even then spoke of your kindness. When he returned to the Domain, because of you he could dare to think of returning, he would see you justly rewarded. 

Lost in his plans for the future, Sidon missed the first half of what you said. “-to put this on since I didn’t have any elixirs, so I stitched you up as best as I could. After this, I’ll check on your leg. That okay with you?” Weakly, he gave you a thumbs-up, which brought a lopsided smile to your face. “Alright then.” 

Staying still while you worked wasn’t difficult. You left briefly to retrieve a box of odorous salves and fresh bandages, then got back to work on his neck. Whatever you’d applied first did a remarkable job of numbing the area. He only felt the faintest of pricks the whole time. Staying silent however, that was a challenge all by itself. You didn’t seem to mind the quiet though, focused on your task as you were, so he took it as an opportunity to study you. 

Sidon hadn’t been this close to a Hylian since his coming of age ceremony. You were so different from his people he couldn’t help but stare. Not a single fin on you. It was rather surprising. Then again, Hylians wore far more clothing than Zora did outside of special occasions and festivities, so maybe they were simply hidden underneath all those layers? They couldn’t be very big, or else your clothes would have the openings his had to accommodate them. 

Not that it was any of his business how big or how small your fins were. Or if you had any, in the first place. 

When you went to open the door, Sidon was startled. With the morning sunlight he could clearly see you weren’t in fact, any shade of green, blue or violet as the luminous stones led him to believe. He’d almost forgotten Hylians came in such radically different colors. 

Besides the fins and scales, another thing jumped out at him. There wasn’t a single circlet, cuff or necklace to be found on your person. At most you had a belt to keep those short trousers up, but that was it. Nothing to indicate your family’s heritage or ties to another, marital or otherwise. Sidon couldn’t imagine going anywhere without his family circlet and necklace.

His hand rose to touch his neck. When his fingers didn’t immediately graze the familiar silver cuff, he froze. The neck piece was gone. A dizzying sense of loss hit him with the realization. Did he lose it in the attack? After? _What happened to it?!_

“Much better. Now let’s take a look at that leg… woah, you okay?” You had only just turned from the door and your eyes were open wide as they took him in. 

Sidon imagined he must have cut a threatening figure then, his fins spread out and rigid in his distress, but he couldn’t contain his panic. “My… necklace,” he croaked, voice pathetically weak. It sent a fresh wave of frustration over him. He tried, but only one more word made it out of his useless throat, “Where…”

“Your… Oh!” You dropped your fist into your open palm. Then you ran from the room without another word, forgetting your sandals at the door. 

Several noises drifted in through the open door as you puttered around. Though what you were doing, he couldn’t say. Sidon winced as a crash came from the structure outside, followed by a slam and pounding footsteps. Not a moment later, you appeared again, looking frazzled and a little out of breath as you hurried to sit by him, something wrapped in cloth clutched in your small hands. 

Carefully undoing the knot, you presented the bundle to him, “I-Is this it?” 

There sat his necklace. Or rather, the pieces of his necklace. The carefully wrought metal had been cleaved in two by the same blade that nearly relieved him of his head. Still, they hadn’t been lost to the river as he had feared, and for that, he couldn’t be more grateful. 

Though his throat wouldn’t allow him to convey the significance of the pieces of silver you held, Sidon tried his best. He held the pads of his fingers up to his lips, his palm flat, and moved his hand forward and down, towards you. He mouthed the word to accompany the sign, “thank you” and watched your face to see if you understood.

Eyes wide, you switched from watching his face to observing his hands. To his delight, you mimicked the action. “This means thank you?” You did it again, checking with him to make sure you got it right before a bright smile spread on your face. “No problem! Could... you teach me how to sign ‘you’re welcome’?” 

It was his pleasure to do so. Later, after you tended to his leg (using that branch you’d been working on, of all things, to make a brace held together by strips of cloth), he caught you repeating the signs he taught you, with the added ones corresponding to “please”, “yes” and “no”. You muttered the spoken counterparts of each sign while you did so. What a fast learner! 

A sharp whistle broke the calm that had fallen over you. You smiled and told him, “That’d be the tea. Give me a minute.” 

Sidon kept himself from making a face, barely, as you left. Ah, tea. It was… not his favorite beverage. His father and sister loved it, but he failed to see the appeal of what was essentially... hot leaf water. 

He schooled his expression back into a friendly one before you returned with a wooden tray. You sank to your knees without spilling a single drop. Sidon marveled at this display of grace while you reached for a spoon and tapped the lid of a round jar full of an amber substance. “Want some honey with yours?” 

Interesting, he’d never heard of anyone adding honey to their tea before. Suddenly having a cup of the stuff didn’t sound too terrible. “Yes, please,” he signed, deeply amused by your concentrated squint as you processed it. He caught your hands twitching in an abbreviated mimic of his gestures. Cute! 

“Okay, how many spoonfuls?” The spoon you held up was barely the size of his finger. So tiny… He resisted the urge to coo. You nodded when he held up a hand and stirred two spoons of honey into one cup, then a single spoonful into the other. “Here you go. Careful, it’s hot.” You blew into your cup after handing him his own. 

Sidon did the same before taking a tentative sip. It wasn’t… too bad. The warm liquid slid down his throat and left a pleasant, soothing sensation in its wake. He’d try with more honey next time, but it was significantly better than his past experiences. He supposed the type of tea played a part; he wondered what kind it was…

“This is mint, by the way. I figured your throat could use it.” You said over your cup. “I’m thinking I’ll make some stew for when you get hungry, too. Probably have to lay off solid food for a while.” 

Fins flaring in distress, he murmured, “Sorry, for… the trouble.” He set his cup down to repeat with his hands. 

Watching intently, you followed along the signs using your hands. Smiling, you shook your head. “Just concentrate on getting better, big guy. Let me worry about the rest.” 

He blushed ( _big guy?_ ) but returned your smile with a grin of his own.

How lucky he was, to have been found by such a nice Hylian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: idk whats going on with these end notes lol.
> 
> edit.....2!: fixed the notes, im new to this sjdkfhjdsfh


End file.
